Category Archives: Belle Isle Dogs

The Belle Isle water station included a bathroom stop for 21,000 runners.

The 2011 ING Miami Marathon made good on its promise Sunday morning: The water station crews were quiet, the runners were happy and the cleanup happened with amazing swiftness — a great event and great morning on Belle Isle.

The first three men crossed just after 7 a.m.

There were runners (and wheelchair athletes) of every speed, shape and size — from the three front-runners who crossed our island just after 7 a.m. to the walkers working their way along two hours later.

Belle Isle residents cheered, held signs, kids and pets. Your Belle Isle Blog got out early to document the moment — and here are lots of photos to share.

Belle Isle residents and pets cheered the runners.

When the race started at 6:20 a.m., there were 21,400 registered runners for the 13.1 mile half marathon and and the 26.2-mile marathon, a record for the race.

Workers dispensed an amazing amount of water and Gatorade.

By 10:30, almost all the crushed cups were gone — and amazing cleanup by a well-organized crew that spent hours dispensing water and Gatorade to the thousands of runners.

Then they took up rakes to clean up the cups, while trucks moved in to pick up and remove the mess — from the Venetian Causeway and the dozen Port-O-Lets set up in front of The Standard.

The cleanup went quickly.

Here is gallery of images from Belle Isle.[

The Belle Isle water station included a bathroom stop for 21,000 runners.

Wolfson didn’t give a speech and he didn’t politic. He did promise to follow up on a variety of local issues, and his aide took a lot of notes. Here are some highlights from the Q&A:

– On the South Beach Local bus service, which added Belle Isle to its route last year, Wolfson heard praise from residents who use it and complaints from folks who don’t. Supporters and opponents complained that the buses seem to go too fast on the narrow two-way road on Island Avenue.

We love our Belle Isle dogs, and we add these to our gallery — along with a question.

What’s the drainage problem in the fenced dog walk area? And why is that is the only area open for our use? There was flooding early Sunday morning, and the puddling remained at 5 p.m. Meanwhile, the other fenced run has been locked — and unusable — all day. The Miami Beach Parks Department needs to do something. Take a look:

You want to meet your Belle Isle neighbors? Walk your dog in Belle Isle Park. Or borrow a dog and walk it in Belle Isle Park. Or ask one of your neighbors walking their dog if you can take their picture for the Belle Isle Blog.

We know it’s shameless. But people love their dogs. And dog pictures. And we want people to love the Belle Isle Blog.

So we’re going to go on a mission of photographing the dogs of Belle Isle. Here we go!